Deadly Addiction: Heroin

Fifty-two year old Frank Novajovsky heads up the local chapter of Reformers Unanimous, a faith-based recovery program at the Stedfast Baptist Church in Groton. This year, he also has been involved in a community effort to help those addicted to opioids, attending vigils and offering help and prayer.

As Connecticut residents continue to die from opioid overdoses at an alarming rate, there is some consensus in the medical community that being able to share health records electronically across the entire state would help fight the epidemic.

The city saw eight fatal overdoses in the first half of this year compared to 19 in the first half of 2017 — a number officials hope will keep dropping as they introduce new programs to fight addiction.

Bethsaida Community, a nonprofit that helps women who are low-income, homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, has received a $200,000 grant to launch a substance abuse program first envisioned early last year.

A website that makes it easier to find addiction treatment has come to Connecticut, and Ada Haines, state chair of the national nonprofit that created it, hopes it’s just one step toward curbing overdose deaths here.

For the second straight year, Saturday’s Midsummer 5K Run & Walk will benefit a fund named after Tim Buckley, a town native whose infectious personality impacted hundreds before he fatally overdosed on heroin last year at 22.

In addressing the passage of the bill, Gov. Malloy was on target in calling the opioid issue “a complex crisis that does not have one root cause, nor does it have simple solution.” But the legislation approved in the recent session is part of the solution.

Endangering of federal funds to treat opioid abuse signals that it's time to look for more allies. Number one should be companies profiting from the sale of opiate painkillers, as called for in Senate bill.